Adjustable stance golf practice mat

ABSTRACT

An adjustable stance golf practice mat has first and second stance pads on a floor pad or panel, with the stance pads secureable at longitudinally spaced apart incremental positions on the floor pad. The floor pad may be split in two and/or provided as a first floor panel attachable to a second floor panel. The spacing between the stance pads may be adjusted depending on the type of shot the user is practicing. Markings may be provided on the stance pads to provide visual indicators to the user. Ridge patterns may be used between the floor panel and the stance pads to provide for incremental adjustment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Golf mats are often used for practice indoors, or outdoors if natural grass is not convenient or available. Larger golf mats may be unrolled or laid out with an area large enough for the golfer to stand on the mat while hitting a golf ball also positioned on the mat. With other smaller types of golf mats or golf pads, the golf ball is placed directly on the pad, or on a tee on the pad. The golfer then stands on the floor or ground, with the golfer's feet off to one side of the pad. This can make it more difficult for the golfer to achieve a proper position relative to the ball, and it may also affect how the golfer grips the golf club. Accordingly, improved golf practice mats are needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An adjustable stance golf practice mat first and second stance pads on a floor pad or panel, with the stance pads secureable at longitudinally spaced apart incremental positions on the floor panel. The spacing between the stance pads may be adjusted depending on the type of shot the user is practicing. Markings may be provided on the stance pads to provide visual indicators to the user. Ridge patterns may be used between the floor panels and the stance pads to provide for incremental adjustment. /

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, the same element number indicates the same element in each of the views.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an adjustable stance golf mat.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the golf mat as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the golf mat of FIGS. 1 and 2 shown in an alternate configuration.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded bottom perspective view of the golf mat of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is a fully exploded top perspective view of the golf mat of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of an alternative embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another alternative embodiment.

FIG. 8 is perspective view of the golf mat of FIG. 1 in use with a wedge or similar golf club.

FIG. 9 is perspective view of the golf mat of FIG. 1 in use with an iron or similar golf club.

FIG. 10 is perspective view of the golf mat of FIG. 1 in use with a driver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

As shown in FIG. 1, in a typical use, a golf ball 52 is placed on a pad 50 during practice. The pad 50 is generally simulated grass and has a thickness PP. Consequently the ball 52 is at a dimension PP above the floor or ground. The dimension PP generally ranges from about 1 to 3 or 4 cm. If the golfer stands on the ground during practice, the ball 52 is raised up from where the ball would be in real play on real grass, by dimension PP. The golfer must therefore compensate for the raised position of the ball. Some golfers may choke up on the club grip, or alter their stance or body position, for this purpose. The result however is that the benefit of the practice is degraded because the relative positions of the golfer and the ball are different from actual play conditions.

Referring still to FIG. 1, a golf mat 10 having a height PP is provided for the golfer to stand on, so that the golfer's feet are at the same height as the golf pad 50. Since the surface that the golfer stands on, and the surface of the pad 50 that the ball 52 rests on, are at the same level, the practice conditions more closely conform to actual play conditions. The golfer therefore does not need to compensate for the raised position of the ball, which makes practice more beneficial.

As shown in FIG. 4, the mat 10 may include a floor pad 12 including two adjoining floor panels 15. The floor panels 15 may be attached to each to using interlocking tab and recess or dovetail elements 26 along the back or inner end 22 of each panel 15. The floor panels 15 may alternatively be attached to each other using fasteners, tape or linking elements. In this case the floor panels 15 may have a straight back end 48 as shown in FIG. 3. The floor panels 15 may have a pattern of ridges and recesses 24 extending partially or fully along the left and right sides of the panel. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the floor panels 15 may also have a curved front or outer end 20. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the floor panels 15 may be congruent with each other, or identical to each other.

The floor panels 15 may be made of foam or synthetic rubber, with or without surface texturing on one or both sides. In FIG. 3, the length LF of the floor panels 15 may generally range from 30-70 or 40-60 cm, with a width WW of 30-50 or 35-45 cm. The thickness SS of the floor panels as indicated in FIG. 4 may generally be 0.5 to 2 cm and more typically is about 0.8 to 1.2 cm.

Turning to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, stance pads 14 are positioned on top of the floor pad 12. Each stance pad 14 may optionally include an upper layer 28 attached to a base 32. The base 32 may be made of the same material as the floor panels 15. The upper layer 28 may be felt or other material intended to simulate the appearance of natural grass, while optionally also having little deflection or crushing when stepped on, so that the golfer's feet may be maintained within a limited vertical range, regardless of the golfers weight, weight distribution or weight shift during club swing, shoe size, or other factors. The upper layer 28 may be a green material adhered to the base 32.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, position strips 36 having a pattern of inward facing ridges and recesses 38 may be attached to the bottom surface of each base 32, along the left and right sides of the base. The pattern of ridges and recesses 38 may be the same as the pattern 24 on the floor panels 15 so that each stance pad 14 may be moved into incremental positions on the floor panel 15. Ridges spaced apart at 1.5 to 3 cm centers provides for sufficient incremental stance pad positioning in most cases. The position strips 36 may be of the same material as the floor panels 15 or the base 32. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, the position strips 36 have a thickness SS which may be the same as the floor panels 15, so that the base 32 is uniformly supported from below via the position strips 35 along the left and right sides of the base, and more centrally via the floor panel 15, with nominally no gap between the bottom surface of the base and the top surface of the floor panel. The floor pad and stance pad together have a combined height of PP, typically 2-4 cm.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the stance pads 14 may be congruent or identical to each other. Consequently description here of a stance pad or a floor panel may refer to one or both stance pads, or one or both floor panels, respectively. Also as shown in FIG. 3, each stance pad 14 may have the same width WW as the floor panels 15, with the stance pads 14 having a length LS less than the floor panels, LS typically ranging from 25-46 or 32-40 cm. The stance pad 14 may have an outer or front end 16 with a curvature matching the curvature of the outer or front end 20 of the floor panel 15.

Turning to FIGS. 1 and 2, markings may be provided on the top of each stance pad 14. The markings may be applied onto the upper layer 28 of the stance pad, if used, by printing, screening or painting. If no separate upper layer 28 is used, the markings may be applied onto the top surface of the base 32. The markings may include stance width markings 40 equally spaced apart by dimension DD adjacent to the left and rights sides of the stance pad. Dimension DD may be about 43 mm, which is the diameter of a golf ball. Foot center markers 44 may be arranged in a column extending between and perpendicular to the stance width markings 40. Foot angle markings 42, also spaced apart by DD, may be located on a longitudinal center line of the stance pad 14. The markings may also be provided in alternative forms, such as lines, circles, dots, rectangles or other shapes. The upper layer 28 may be omitted entirely. In this case, the markings 40, 42 and 44, if used, may be provided on the base 32.

The stance width markings 40 and the foot centerline markings 44 provide visual indicators of the golfers foot position and coordinates. The foot angle markings 42 provide visual indicators of the golfer's toe-in/toe-out foot angle. The top surface of the mat 10 is substantially at the same height as the ball 52 so that the golfer does not need to compensate for any vertical position offset.

For practicing shots where the feet are spaced further apart, the stance pads 14 may be moved away from each other outwardly up to the position as shown in FIG. 3. The stance pad 14 is moved by lifting it up off of the floor panel 15, repositioning the stance pad as desired, and then pushing the stance pad back down onto the floor pad, with the ridge pattern 38 reengaging with the ridge pattern 24 to secure the stance pad 14 in the new position. In a modified design, the ridge patterns may be omitted allowing the stance pads 14 to slide over the floor panels during stance pad repositioning.

Golfer foot positions vary depending on the shot contemplated and the club used. For example, for putting or chip shots the feet may be relatively close together with a spacing of perhaps only 25 cm. For practicing this type of shot, the stance pads 14 may be arranged as shown in FIGS. 1 and 8 where the inner or back sides of the stance pads 14 are near to or actually touching each other. For longer distance shots typically using an iron, the golfer's feet are spaced further apart, and the bases 32 are correspondingly spaced further apart, as shown in FIG. 9. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 10, where the golfer is using a driver, typically the bases 32 may be spaced even further apart. Hence, the bases 32 may be positioned as desired to accommodate the golfer's foot positions.

As the two floor panels may be the same, and the two stance pads may be the same, the mat 10 may be provided via only two unique parts. The mat 10 may also be packaged, shipped and stored in a compact space with the floor panels 15 separated from each other and stacked up with the stance pads 14.

FIG. 6 shows an alternative golf mat design 60 having a single floor pad 62, rather than two separate floor pads. Although the mat 60 may be less compact when stored in comparison to the mat 10 shown in FIGS. 1-5, the mat 60 does not require attaching floor pads to each other. Depending on its material and thickness, the floor pad 62 may optionally be folded in half to provide for compact storage and shipping. Alternatively, a hinge 64 may formed in or provided on the floor pad 62 to allow the floor pad to be easily and compactly folded. The hinge 64 may be molded into the floor pad 62 in the form of one or more grooves.

FIG. 7 shows another golf mat 70 using rails 72. In this design, the bases 76 may be supported on the rails 72, with the rails and bases having complimentary positioning elements 74, such as indents, ridges, pyramids, spikes, etc. In this case the spacing between the bases 76 may be changed by lifting the base 76 up off of the rail 72 and repositioning it back onto the rail at the desired position. In use, the golfer's weight keeps the bases 76 securely fixed on the rails. The positioning elements 74 may engage directly into the bottom surface of the bases 76, depending on the base material used. If a softer base material is used, metal or plastic tracks may be attached onto the bottom surface of each base 76, with the positioning elements 74 engaging the tracks, to provide a secure attachment and avoid excessive wear on the bases.

Thus, a novel adjustable golf stance mat has been shown and described. Various changes and substitutions may of course be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention, therefore, should not be limited, except by the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. An adjustable stance golf practice mat, comprising: a floor pad; a first stance pad on the floor pad; a second stance pad on the floor pad; and a positioning device, wherein the first and second stance pads are secureable, by the positioning device, at longitudinally spaced apart incremental positions on the floor pad.
 2. An adjustable stance golf practice mat, comprising: a floor pad, with the floor pad including a first floor pad attachable to a second floor pad; a first stance pad on the floor pad; a second stance pad on the floor pad, with the first and second stance pads secureable at longitudinally spaced apart incremental positions on the floor pad; a plurality of stance width markings on a top surface of the first and second stance pads; and floor pad ridge patterns on left and right sides of the first floor pad meshed with stance pad ridge patterns on left and right sides of the first stance pad.
 3. The golf practice mat of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of stance width markings on a top surface of the first and second stance pads, and a plurality of foot angle markings on the top surface of the first and second stance pads.
 4. The golf practice mat of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of stance width markings on a top surface of the first and second stance pads, and a plurality of centerline markings on the top surface of the first and second stance pads.
 5. The golf practice mat of claim 1 with each stance pad having a curved front edge and a straight back edge.
 6. The golf practice mat of claim 2 further including left and right positioner strips attached to a bottom surface of the first stance pad at left and right sides of the first stance pad, respectively, and with the stance pad ridge patterns on the left and right positioner strips.
 7. The golf practice mat of claim 1 with the floor pad and the stance pads comprising foam rubber.
 8. The golf practice mat of claim 2 wherein the first floor pad is interchangeable with the second floor pad.
 9. The golf practice mat of claim 1 with the floor pad and the first stance pad together having a thickness of 1.5 to 3.5 cm.
 10. The golf practice mat of claim 6 with the positioner strips and the floor pad having the same thickness.
 11. The golf practice mat of claim 1 with the first stance pad comprising a felt material adhered to a foam lower layer, with a plurality of stance width markings on the felt material.
 12. The golf practice mat of claim 6 with the first stance pad comprising a felt material adhered to a foam lower layer, with the markings on the felt material, and wherein the foam lower layer forms the bottom surface of the first stance pad.
 13. The golf practice mat of claim 5 with the floor pad having a curved front edge collinear with the curved front edge of the stance pad.
 14. An adjustable stance golf practice mat, comprising: first and second floor pads with a back end of the first floor pad attachable to a back end of the second floor pad; a plurality of equally spaced apart positioning projections on left and right sides of each floor pad; and first and second stance pads each having a plurality of equally spaced apart positioning recesses on left and right sides of each stance pad, with the recesses adapted to receive the projections, for positioning the first and second stance pads on the first and second floor pads, respectively, with the first and second stance pads spaced apart from each other by a variable dimension.
 15. The golf practice mat of claim 14 with each of the first and second floor pads having a front end having a curvature, and with each of the stance pads having a front end having the same curvature as the front end of the floor pads.
 16. The golf practice mat of claim 14 with each of the stance pads having a straight back end.
 17. The golf mat of claim 14 wherein the positioning recesses face inwardly toward each other.
 18. The golf practice mat of claim 17 with the positioning recesses in left and right positioning strips attached to a bottom surface of each stance pad.
 19. The golf practice mat of claim 14 wherein the first floor pad is congruent to the second floor pad.
 20. The golf practice mat of claim 19 wherein the first stance pad is congruent to the second stance pad. 